Domenicali out, Mattiacci in at Scuderia Ferrari.

Today, being the honorable man he is, Stefano Domenicali sacrificed himself and "resigned". The role of team principal will be taken up, effective immediately by Marco Mattiacci.

While many tifosi, Italian and particularly Spanish, have been clamoring for his head for a while, the trouble of the team cannot be traced to a single man. The role of team principal is one of management and as Ferrari's choice of replacement hints, one of politics within the sport.

Marco Mattiacci

Marco Mattiacci, 42, started work at Ferrari in 1999, first in charge of developing sales in the Middle East and Russia then managing the relaunch of Maserati in the North America.
Mattiacci's next assignment was to open up the Chinese market for Ferrari, something he accomplished with huge success.

Up until yesterday, he was CEO if Ferrari North America. under his tenure sales increased 20 percent.

Mattiacci has no racing experience but has been a fixture at Ferrari Challenge and Corse Clienti events in North America. Ferrari' and FIAT's top management is clearly behind him and his tenure with the Scuderia will most likely seen with an eye towards stepping into Montezemolo's shoes when the current president of Ferrari.

We are sorry to see Domenicali go, he was one of the nice guys in F1 and worked his way up from nothing to one of the best jobs in the sport, we wish him luck on his next venture.

Best wishes also to Marco Mattiacci, his this Ferrari challenge will be his most difficult yet.

4 comments:

Pretty cold from Ferrari "Maranello, 14 April 2014 –On receiving Stefano Domenicali’s resignation, Ferrari thanks him for the dedication he brought to his service to the company, in positions of ever increasing responsibility over the past 23 years. It offers Stefano Domenicali its most sincere best wishes for the future. - See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/ferrari-stefano-domenicali#sthash.JKYqL2yy.dpuf"

Honestly, this was a long time coming. I liked Domenicali in the position but someone had to get axed and the team principal makes sense. I have thought SD was on borrowed time since the fiasco of the final race in 2010 where the team screwed up FA's race strategy and lost him the title. Since then it has been increasingly poor development of the car every year, so it kind of is what it is.

Domenicali sleeps with the fishes. Well not literally thank goodness, but maybe he'll call Ross Brawn and find out where he should go to catch some fishes. Stefano will have plenty of free time on his hands going forward. As far as this new guy Mattiacci he won't do any better. He'll bomb out. He's a creampuff, or in Italian terms he's a canoli. The fact that he has nothing but sales experience at Ferrari tells me he's completely worthless at Ferrari. You don't sell a Ferrari. A Ferrari sells itself. You don't sell a Ferrari car. You don't sell the Ferrari mystique. A Ferrari sells itself. Now Mattiacci may be good at setting up dealerships in remote locations like China or Russia, but let's be honest, anyone with a cellphone, a passport, and the backing of Maranello millions to spend can do that. I too wish Mattiacci good luck in his new job....he's gonna need it. Lots of it. Anyone care to speculate who is gonna take Mattiacci's place for the 2017 season?

Well, here's to hoping he's not as...shall we say...influenced by Italian and European politics as his predecessors. The way the SF have been crying lately has been an embarrassment, and they should know better. RBR is a flash in the pan, they could bail on F1 in a heartbeat and nobody would shed a tear, so their behavior isn't quite as surprising (or even unexpected) as SF.

As a team that constantly argues it is F1, they should act a bit more professional, even if they don't agree with the rules. If they are, truly, F1, they need to set a freaking standard by which the other teams should be held to. Can you imagine if the backmarker teams pitched such fits because they weren't competitive (especially the ones with Ferrari power)?

US corporate standards, aside from the blatant greed and profiteering, typically hold their organizations accountable for their public image. Employees have to be very careful of how they represent themselves to media, even in their personal endeavors. I hope to see SF rein in their seriously challenged attitude problems of late, so I can at least respect the organization even if I'm not a huge fan. I doubt I'm the only one with this sentiment.

Given that RBR plays by the same book as SF has in the past, maybe they'll change their tune a bit if SF takes the lead, as they should, since they're F1, etc.